Pendulum support for a multi-point writing instrument

ABSTRACT

This invention concerns multi-point writing instruments of the kind wherein a pendulum effects selection and advance of the point carriers, one end of the pendulum being displaceably suspended in a pendulum control and support unit which is engageable with a plunger-like presser, there being a retraction spring for urging said unit towards said presser. In this invention, the said unit is a one-piece plastic member which has parts engageable with the presser, an integral spring guiding collar, and an integral resilient cage into which said one end of the pendulum is snap-fittable.

United States Patent Heinz 11 1 Dec. 2, 1975 1 1 PENDULUM SUPPORT FOR A 1.446.663 6/1966 France 401/33 MuLTI-PoINT WRITING INSTRUMENT 11803-334. 5/1970 Germany 1,808,197 5/1970 Germany v. 401/33 [76] Inventor: Karl Heinrich Heinz, 44,

K0 tanzerstrass ,CH-82SO Krgljzlingen swiizerland Primary Examzner-Eawrence Charles Attorney, Agent, or F1rmAbraham A. SaffItz [22] Filed: Feb. 14, 1974 This invention concerns multi-point writing instru- [30] Forelgn Apphcanon Pnomy Data ments of the kind wherein a pendulum effects se1ec- 141 1973 Germany 2341054 tion and advance of the point carriers, one end of the pendulum being displaceably suspended in a pendu- [52] US. Cl. 401/33 lum control and Su on unit which is engageable with 51 I l 2 pp tit. C 343K 27/14 a 1 1 Presser there being a retraction spring [58] FIeld of Search 401/29-33 f urging Said unit towards Said Presser In this inveh tion, the said unit is a one-piece plastic member which [56] References C'ted has parts engageable with the presser, an integral UNITED STATES PATENTS spring guiding collar, and an integral resilient cage 3,225,747 12/1965 Schmidt v. 401 33 into which Said one end of the Pendulum is p- FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS fmable' 1,269,539 5/1968 Germany 401/33 1 Claim, 10 Drawing Figures US Patent Dec. 2, 1975 Sheet 1 of 2 3,923,404

Sheet 2 of 2 3,923,404

US. Patent Dec. 2, 1975 .7 2 9 fi P P w .llllllxhi. a: d 1114.. II I .1 l loilllzifi 2 8 W V/F 44$ x A f Il1Hl:Ii Rh 5v J 8 2 22% m F m w w ll a m Iv W r 2 00 2 m m n m w f a F N F V AW m n PENDULUM SUPPORT FOR A MULTLPOINT WRITING INSTRUMENT CROSS REFERENCE RELATED APPLICATIONS Applicant calls attention to German patent application P 234l,ll54.0 of Aug. 14, 1973 under which priority is claimed under the provision of 35 U.S. C. 119.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention concerns improvements in multi-point writing instruments of the kind wherein a pendulum rod effects selection and advance of the leads or other point carriers, one end of the pendulum rod being displaceably suspended in a pendulum control and support unit which is drivingly and lockingly engageable with a plunger-like presser, there being a retraction spring for urging said unit towards said presser.

Throughout this specification and claims, such instruments will be referred to as multi-point writing instruments of the kind defined. Also, throughout this specification and claims, there will be references to directions which should be interpreted as referring to directions as viewed in the drawings or to the normal orientation of a writing instrument in use.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In my German patent specification No. 1,461,301 there is described a multi-point writing instrument of the kind defined. In said German Patent, the instrument includes a pendulum rod selectively adjustable to act on a plurality of point carriers, a rotatable starshaped spider which has radially outwardly extending teeth meshing, on the one hand, with teeth at the downward end of the presser and, on the other hand, with grooves formed at the inner wall of the sleeve of the instrument, and wherein the pendulum rod has a head or thickened rear end lying in a pivot bearing arranged at the downward-facing surface of the star-shaped spider, the pivot bearing being mounted with radial play and overlaid by a hat-shaped cover member which is formed with an opening for the pendulum rod and with a rim, and a return spring is supported against the rim of the hat-shaped cover member to urge it and the starshaped spider upwardly.

Thus, this known pendulum bearing assembly consists of two different functional parts: the star-shaped spider, which is injection-moulded from plastics; and the hat-shaped cover member for the pivot bearing of the spider. Consequently both these parts require a sep arate manufacturing process and associated apparatus. For the spider with the pivot bearing a special injection die is needed, whereas for the hat-shaped cover member the process must include a special deformation step and tools to carry it out. Furthermore, means must be provided for assembling together the functional parts of the pendulum support.

OBJECTS OF Til-IE INVENTION The aim of the present invention is to simplify the manufacture and assembly requirements of pendulum bearing assemblies for rnulti-point writing instruments and to reduce the number of functional parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention there is provided in a pendulum control and support device for a multi-point writing instrument of the kind defined, wherein said device is a one-piece plastic member comprising a. means for engaging with the plunger-like presser,

and

b. a collar on that side of the member which is destined to be adjacent the point carriers, the collar serving to guide the retraction spring and being formed with an integral, resilient, shaped cage into which said one end of the pendulum rod may be snap-fitted and engaged for pendulum movement.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a multi-point writing instrument comprising a sleeve, a plurality of point carriers projectable out of and retractable into said sleeve, a plunger-like presser, a pendulum rod for selecting a point carrier and causing it to project out of the Sleeve, one end of the pendulum rod being displaceably suspended in a pendulum control and support device and a retraction spring for urging said unit towards said presser, wherein said pendulum control and support device comprises a onepiece plastic member having:

a. means for engaging with the plunger-like presser,

and

b. a collar on that side of the member which is destined to be adjacent the point carriers, the collar serving to guide the retraction spring and being formed with an integral, resilient, shaped cage into which said one end of the pendulum rod may be snap-fitted and engaged for pendulum movement.

Preferably, said one-piece plastics member is an injection-moulded plastics member of generally cruciform shape in section.

To snap the pendulum head into the cross-spider and pendulum support each of the spiders and support are divided by slots and the halves of the pendulum support are elastically forceable apart when the pendulum head is inserted and thus the pendulum rod is mounted in the cross-spider, or in a functionally equivalent locking body so that it can be easily snapped into and out of mounted position.

A small and fixable mounting clearance for the pendulum head in the pendulum support can be achieved by forming the pendulum support with a partly spherical seat. In this way the need for additional tensioning of the pendulum support and for the previously required rechecking of the length of the pendulum are eliminated, since the play tolerance for the plastic, injection-moulded pendulum support can be very accurately fixed, whereby both the feed stroke and the amount that the presser projects out of the sleeve of the instrument can be shortened.

A further resiliently snap-fittable pendulum support can be achieved by forming the part of the pendulum support. below the cross-spider with a stepped shape whereby the pendulum head clampingly surrounds the pendulum rod and is supported oscillatably from all sides.

Through the one-piece construction according to the invention of the cross-spider or of a functionally equivalent star locking body, with the pendulum support having a springguiding collar the hitherto separate manufacture of the locking body of the pendulum support is obviated as is the assembly of a special cap for the pendulum support or a functionally similar springguiding bush. In this way the previous requirements of the number of parts, their manufacture and the assembly of the pendulum support are considerably simplified and the multi-point writing instrument is made cheaper since the locking body and the pendulum support are of one piece and are injection moulded from plastic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Two preferred embodiments of the invention are diagrammatically illustrated, by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, in which FIGS. 1 to 6 relate to the first preferred embodiment and FIGS. 7 to 10 relate to the second preferred embodiment. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows part of a multi-point writing instrument in elevation and broken away to reveal a pendulum support according to the invention in longitudinal section;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view, partly in elevation of the upper part of the sleeve of the instrument shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the presser of the instrument shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevation of a pendulum support according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a view taken along the arrow in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the sectional plane VI-VI in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 shows partly in elevation and partly in section, the upper part of the sleeve;

FIG. 8 is an elevation of a presser;

FIG. 9 is an elevation of the pendulum support according to the invention; and

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal section through the second preferred embodiment of a multi-point writing instrument according to the invention.

Like parts have been allotted like reference numbers, unless otherwise stated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first preferred embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, a sleeve 1 has a guiding bore of two different-diameter sections 2 and 3 separated by an abutment 4. The inner wall of the bore section 3 has longitudinal guiding grooves 5 which at their downward end terminate in downwardly projecting gear teeth 5 (FIGS. 1 and 2). A tubular presser 6 is slidable in the bore. It has a piston or enlargement 7 with radially outwardly projecting, angularly spaced guiding ribs 8 and wedge-shaped teeth 9 at its downward end. At the upper end of the presser there are axially directed recesses 10, for colour marking. The upper end of the piston 7 cooperates with the abutment 4., while the ribs 8 cooperate with and engage in the grooves 5.

The pendulum support ill of this embodiment has a cross-shaped spider formed with an upper cylindrical part receivable in the tubular presser 6; the arms of the cross have wedge-shaped teeth 12 which project radially outwardly and which are arranged to mesh with the groove 5 of the piston 7. Thus, the member 11 serves also as a locking body for locking the presser in a given angular orientation. The downwardly projecting part of the cross-shaped spider is in the form of a springguiding collar 13 provided with a part-spherical seat or recess 14. The spring-guiding collar 13 enters into one end of a compression spring which at that end abuts against the downward-facing undersurface of the arms of the cross. The collar 13 and the seat 14 are both divided by slits l5 and are thus formed as a resilient, snap-in clamp or stirrup 16. A link head or ball 17 formed integrally on one end of a pendulum rod 18 is snapped into the clamp 16 with play to allow for oscillation. The parts l1, l2 and 13 are made of one piece of injection-moulded plastics material. Consequently, the play tolerance of this plastics pendulum support can be very exactly determined to correspond to the diameter of the pendulum ball head.

The embodiment according to FIGS. 7 to It) differs from the preceding embodiment essentially in respect of the configuration of the teeth of the presser and the teeth of the locking body/pendulum support. In contrast to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 6, the toothed segments of the presser and of the locking body/pendulum support have a considerably smaller angular extent, yet they are functionally equivalent with the related parts of the previous embodiment. The sleeve part 19 has a presser guiding bore 20 and an insertion bore 21 which has radially inwardly projecting guide ribs 22 terminating at their downward ends in bevelled teeth 22. The presser 23 carries at its front respective toothed segments 24, for locking engagement with grooves 21 and with radially outwardly projecting double tooth segments 27, 28 formed on a generally crossshaped spider 26. The spider 26 is provided on its downwardly facing surface with a stepped springguiding collar 29 which in turn has downwardly projecting, stepped and curved parts 36) forming a cage into which the link ball 17 of the pendulum rod 18 may be snapped in and journalled with play all around.

For an easy snapping of the pendulum ball 17 into the cage 30, the latter is divided by slits 31.

It will be appreciated that the invention encompasses multi-point instruments wherein the points are all pencil leads which may be of different colour and/or quality or which may all be the same; or wherein the points are ball-point pen or felt-tip pen cartridges of the same or different colours and/or quality and/or fineness; or wherein the points are a mixture of pencil leads, ballpoint pen cartridges and/or felt-tip pen cartridges.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a multi-point writing instrument having a sleeve, a plurality of point carriers projectable out of and retractable into said sleeve, a plunger-iike presser, and a pendulum which effects selection and advance of the point carriers, one end of the pendulum being displacably suspended in a pendulum control and support unit which is engageable with said plunger-like presser, there being a retraction spring for urging said unit towards said presser, that improvement consisting essentially of:

a pendulum rod for selecting a point carrier and causing it to project out the sleeve;

a pendulum control and support device having mechanically separable half parts injection molded from a one-piece plastic member of generally cruciform shape in section in which one end of said pendulum rod is displacably suspended and said retraction spring is mountd for urging said support device towards said presser;

a plunger-like presser member having parts formed with grooves and radially projecting teeth segments;

means for engaging with said plunger-like presser;

port are elastically forced apart and separated when the said end of the pendulum rod is pressed into the cage and thus the pendulum rod is held snap-fittably in said pendulum support; and,

said resilient, shaped cage having a spherically shaped seat for locking engagement with said grooves and said radially projecting teeth segments on said presser member. 

1. In a multi-point writing instrument having a sleeve, a plurality of point carriers projectable out of and retractable into said sleeve, a plunger-like presser, and a pendulum which effects selection and advance of the point carriers, one end of the pendulum being displacably suspended in a pendulum control and support unit which is engageable with said plunger-like presser, there being a retraction spring for urging said unit towards said presser, that improvement consisting essentially of: a pendulum rod for selecting a point carrier and causing it to project out the sleeve; a pendulum control and support device having mechanically separable half parts injection molded from a one-piece plastic member of generally cruciform shape in section in which one end of said pendulum rod is displacably suspended and said retraction spring is mountd for urging said support device towards said presser; a plunger-like presser member having parts formed with grooves and radially projecting teeth segments; means for engaging with said plunger-like presser; an integral spring guiding collar on that side of the member presser adjacent the point carriers, said collar serving to guide the retraction spring; a resilient, shaped cage integrally formed on said guidingcollar into which cage said one end of the pendulum rod is snap-fittable and engagable for pendulum movement; slits being formed in spring-guiding collar and in said cage whereby the half parts of the pendulum support are elastically forced apart and separated when the said end of the pendulum rod is pressed into the cage and thus the pendulum rod is held snap-fittably in said pendulum support; and, said resilient, shaped cage having a spherically shaped seat for locking engagement with said grooves and said radially projecting teeth segments on said presser member. 